Peter 'Pete' Roberts invented the quick release socket wrench. He sold his patent to US retail store chain Sears for $10,000 who said that they did not think the invention was worth very much. When he learned that Sears had done a market study with revealed a huge market and that they had sold 26 million of his wrenches for a profit of $44 million within a year, he sued them for fraud. In 1976, a US Federal jury agreed with him and awarded him $1 million in damages. Sears appealed the decision all the way to the US Supreme Court but lost.[1]
Roberts went on to found Link Tools, which manufactures a system of interlocking quick-release ratchets, sockets, and accessories.